Social Sharing

'Life's good and Pelley is watching us. Definitely, definitely'

Lori Chynn hangs a banner celebrating the life of her husband, John Pelley, who died in the Cougar helicopter crash. (Fred Hutton/CBC)

Nine years ago, many people in Newfoundland and Labrador lost partners, parents and friends when 17 people died in the Cougar 491 helicopter crash, in a moment that devastated the offshore oil industry and circles far beyond it.

At a site Monday where many family and friends still gather to remember their loved ones, two people connected by tragedy finally found each other.

Lori Chynn and Maxine Lear have both been grieving the loss of John Pelley in the accident.

Pelley, a medic on the SeaRose, was Chynn's husband. For two and a half years, he was also Lear's roommate on the SeaRose, the floating oil platform where Pelley had been heading when the oil pressure collapsed in the chopper's gearbox, about 55 km southeast of St. John's.

After Pelley's death, the two women found each other on Facebook and have always kept in touch.

John Pelley was a nurse who worked as a medic aboard the SeaRose platform in Newfoundland and Labrador's offshore oil industry. (Submitted by Lori Chynn)

On Monday morning, at the fence alongside the old Cougar helicopter hangar where the ill-fated Sikorsky S-92 had departed, the women met in person for the first time.

"It's amazing. Awesome. I've been looking so forward to it for nine years," said Lear.

"Life's good and Pelley is watching us. Definitely, definitely."

One lost a husband, the other lost a friend, but together they can keep his memory alive. 1:54

'I just feel compelled to come back'

Chynn, who lives in Deer Lake, drives to St. John's every year on the anniversary of the accident to place a wreath on the fence.